TheBridge profile: Justin Erlich
Name: Justin Erlich
Current city: San Francisco, CA
Current job: Head of Trust & Safety Policy, Americas at TikTok
Past job: VP of Strategy, Policy & Legal at Voyage; Head of Policy, Autonomous Vehicles & Urban Aviation at Uber; Special Assistant Attorney General at the California Attorney General’s Office
Q. Favorite spot for a coffee meeting? Duboce Park Cafe
Q. Job advice in three words? Hustle, collaborate, learn
Q. How are you (or your company) currently bridging the gap between politics and tech? I am currently working on how we can deploy autonomous vehicle technology to help increase access to mobility in senior communities. To do this right requires collaborating with governments and local residents – both learning more about their perspectives and educating them on our technology and approach.
Q. Most underrated virtue in an employee? The combination of humility + intellectual curiosity.
Q. What can innovators teach regulators? Silicon Valley can teach DC about the value of quick iteration, pilots, failing fast, understanding exactly why things work (or don’t work), starting with the needs of the customer and building in strong feedback loops.
Q. What can regulators teach innovators? DC can teach Silicon Valley that society is quite diverse and complicated so determining the right principles and policies that govern products like tech platforms or autonomous vehicles requires a lot of pro-active engagement, dialogue, and balancing competing values.
Q. Favorite under the radar company? I’m really excited about Tortoise, which is developing an autonomy layer to micro-mobility. This may just be what is needed to solve the re-balancing challenge and help unlock more multi-modal trips.
Q. Describe one way a skill you learned in a previous job helped you in your new job. Synthesizing extensive research, interviews, and data analysis - in the face of market ambiguity - into clear, concise and compelling insights while a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Co. has been useful when I engage on complex topics with the C-suite, investors, and senior government officials.
Q. Which Member of Congress / regulator is most tech savvy? I'm biased but my former boss - Senator Kamala Harris - is quite tech savvy.
Q. Looking back, what advice would you give yourself in the beginning of your career? Life is pretty path dependent. Developing a clear plan is helpful but be opportunistic and ready to leap at new opportunities if they present themselves.
Q. What's one piece of advice you are still trying to master? Make sure to occasionally unplug and turn-off. The course of human history will not change if those e-mails don’t get responded to immediately.
Q. If you had to live in another city, which would it be? I would move to Oakland where I was born & raised or move back to Brooklyn where I lived before SF.
Justin's profile was featured in #TheBridgeUpdate on Sept 6. Enjoying TheBridge Profiles? Sign up for TheBridge Update.